Chapter 222: Welcoming the New Year (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: Welcoming the New Year (1)
I’ve traveled to many planets, and I’ve found one thing in common across all civilizations, regardless of their history or traditions.
Things get incredibly hectic and noisy whenever one season ends and another begins.
Earth is no different. When one year closes and a new one starts, the whole world falls into a festive mood. Whether it’s good news or bad, stories spread in an instant, and everyone has something to say.
The Earth Defense Union embezzlement scandal that broke at the end of the year caused a bigger stir than I had anticipated. Perhaps because it happened right as everything was wrapping up, the story showed no signs of cooling down even after the New Year dawned. My girlfriends had to deal with a constant stream of reporters at headquarters for quite some time.
On top of that, they had to cooperate with the investigators who came to the office. Consequently, everyone spent the end of the year and the beginning of the new one—the time when we should have been going on dates and spending the most time together—stuck at headquarters.
Naturally, there was no time for us to get hot and heavy. I spent my time digging up necessary information and handing it over to them whenever needed.
Aside from my girlfriends' work, two other pieces of news arrived at the end of the year.
First, Alt, a new colleague from the 3rd Team who had been in Japan, arrived in Korea. Since I was the first person he ran into when he arrived at headquarters, we were able to share a few words.
"I heard you were doing something in Japan."
"There was something picked up at the observation base."
"At the observation base?"
When Spacetro settled on Earth, they installed a few observation bases across the globe to monitor anything heading toward Earth from space.
Having experienced the destruction of their own homeworld by invaders, the first thing Spacetro did when they descended to a planet for invasion was to set up these monitors.
It seemed Alt had been performing his duties at the observation base while simultaneously participating in duels as a regular soldier in Japan.
"Is something coming toward Earth?"
Feeling a sense of unease at the mention of a discovery, I asked cautiously. Alt shook his head.
"No. It’s not that something is coming to Earth; it’s that something left Earth."
"Left Earth?"
The observation bases monitor things coming in, but they also track things going out. Since Spacetro’s arrival, Earth's space technology has taken a massive leap forward.
However, since they still lacked the technology to reach other planets, Spacetro didn't particularly guard against humans launching things into space, nor did they hinder Earth's rate of development.
"Yes. But it wasn't a projectile; it was a radio signal."
"A radio signal? You mean it was beamed from inside Earth into space?"
There wasn't anything particularly strange about that. Humans launching projectiles or beaming signals into space was a common occurrence. If anything, it felt odd that Alt had stayed in Japan longer just because of that.
"Yes. But it’s a bit strange. The launch location couldn't be pinpointed, and there wasn't anything special in the direction the signal was sent."
The details Alt shared as he sat beside me raised several questions.
Until now, the reason Earth sent signals into space was usually to identify the characteristics of a specific star after its discovery.
The observation bases always monitored everything leaving the planet, and since these actions always had a clear, identifiable intent, they were never considered an issue.
However, a signal whose origin was difficult to pinpoint and whose intent was unknown was definitely strange.
"Since it’s already been sent, there’s nothing we can do. I tried to at least narrow down the location, but I couldn't find a thing. I figured there wasn't much else for me to do by staying there, so I wrapped things up and came to Korea."
The fact that the location couldn't be pinpointed meant the signal hadn't been sent from an official facility. In such cases, finding the source becomes incredibly difficult.
It meant the location had been intentionally hidden, and tracking it down would be more complicated than one might imagine. That’s just how planetary exploration goes.
Even with Spacetro's technology, it is harder to scrutinize the interior of a planet than it is to destroy it. No matter how advanced a civilization is, you can't truly know what's happening inside a planet without looking at it directly.
"You worked hard."
We decided to dive into more detail after Alt made his official report to Luche. Since the embezzlement scandal had just been made public, checking real-time information was a higher priority than listening to Alt's story.
Then, the following day, more news arrived: Kruger had woken up.
The moment I heard he had opened his eyes, I wanted to rush to the hospital. However, unlike me, who had been treated in the ship's facilities, Kruger was in a public hospital. Even after waking, he was placed under a "no visitors" rule for the time being to ensure he remained stable.
Knowing Kruger's constitution, I thought it would be fine to go immediately, but even if the hospital was operated by Spacetro, it appeared as a normal hospital to the public. I was told to avoid any conspicuous behavior, so I decided to wait until visitations were permitted.
The year that had ended so noisily transitioned into an equally boisterous beginning of the new year.
"I'm beat."
Yura and Su-ah came home and collapsed onto the living room sofa simultaneously. Eunha gave a sheepish smile as she took their coats to the dressing room, while I grabbed some drinks for them from the fridge.
"Were you busy again today?"
"Don't even ask. Investigators, reporters... even internet streamers. They just keep coming, one after another."
The aftermath of the embezzlement scandal was even greater than that of the terror incident. While the terror incident was far heavier in terms of the gravity of the crime, the fact that another scandal broke right after a major event meant even more people were paying attention.
"There are so many suspicious people, too. It's a headache, a real headache."
Watching Yura and Su-ah vent their exhaustion, I worried that Yubin and Hayoung, who had gone to their own homes, were likely in a similar state.
I gave them a wry smile as I handed them their drinks, then ran into Eunha, who had just finished putting away the coats.
"Oppa. How is the investigation going?"
"Oh, I've paused it for a bit."
My original plan was to dive headfirst into the investigation after raiding the Director's PC. But just like when I first attempted the hacking, I realized I couldn't proceed with this investigation alone.
Since it involved digging through data on Superhumans, my girlfriends' help was indispensable. Every time I found data, I needed to go through the verification process with them.
But as you can see, since the embezzlement scandal broke, they’ve been having frantic days.
The duels were still on the schedule, but they were only proceeding in name; no actual fighting was taking place.
As the scandal unfolded, a massive number of people began taking an interest in Superhumans. When it became known that the Superhumans they had previously insulted as "tax thieves" were receiving pay so low they couldn't even maintain a basic standard of living, public sympathy began to swell.
However, since not all Superhumans were underpaid, there were still those who argued they were indeed tax thieves, while others spun conspiracy theories claiming the Superhumans were being paid off to play the victim.
Ultimately, even on duel days, such massive crowds gathered that while the participants met, they decided it was impossible to actually fight and chose to just wrap things up without a duel.
In this situation, even if I dug through the files and found information on Superhumans, it would be difficult to have a smooth exchange of information with my girlfriends. I felt that trying to push for information sharing now would only add to their fatigue, so I set the files aside for a moment and investigated something I was personally curious about.
Even though this was the data on Superhumans I had wanted so badly, now that it was in my hands, I felt much more relaxed than before. It wasn't that I didn't want to know about Superhumans as soon as possible, but I concluded that it was right to wrap up the situation in front of us before pushing for the next step.
Thinking this way, I realized how frustrating it must have been for the people around me in the past when they saw me trying to handle multiple things at once.
I didn't feel anything when I put the burden of work on myself, but the thought of adding to someone else's burden because of my actions made me lose all desire to rush.
"I'm going to take it slow for a while. Everyone's busy."
When I was preoccupied with creating the hacking tool and couldn't spend proper time with them, my girlfriends waited for me and trusted me. Since no one rushed or pressured me, I didn't plan to rush the Superhuman investigation until the current situation settled down a bit.
That didn't mean I was just playing around, though.
Aside from the Superhuman investigation, there was one other thing I was looking into separately.
"What about Gainsborough? Did you find anything out?"
Yura, sitting on the sofa, tilted her head back to meet my eyes.
When I shook my head with a sigh, Yura also made a dissatisfied face.
While my girlfriends were busy with the embezzlement investigation, I had become personally curious about Gainsborough's whereabouts and started tracking him. I had heard that his trail went cold while Team Guerrilla was being investigated by the police, but since I didn't know the exact timing, I decided to first determine when he disappeared.
The data from the Director's PC was a huge help in figuring this out.
After the terror incident, the roster for Team Guerrilla remained at the Seoul Branch for a while. It only disappeared around the time the new team I’d never seen before, Endurance, was scheduled to arrive. However, Gainsborough alone had vanished from the roster immediately after the terror incident occurred.
There was no way to track where he went, but while looking for things related to him, I discovered a significant number of encrypted files. It would be hard to decipher them immediately, but I had a feeling I’d find something if I took the time to investigate.
Is it related to that?
I thought of the untraceable radio signal Alt had mentioned. It was hard to find a direct link, but investigating one mystery naturally made me think of another.
It was hard to give a clear reason for linking them. It was just a bad gut feeling.
"A... I'm so tired."
I walked over to Yura, who was stretching out her arms and complaining of fatigue, and gave her a tight hug. Since she had just come in from outside, her body still held the chill of winter, and she warmed up as she hugged me.
"Hey."
Su-ah, who was sitting next to her, called out to me while I was hugging Yura.
She didn't add anything else, but I could tell her intent just by her voice and the way she looked at me.
"I know."
While still holding Yura, I opened my other arm, and Su-ah moved closer. I held them both at once, feeling their warmth and patting their backs to tell them they had worked hard today.
"This is nice. So nice I want to trip you and drag you to the bed right now."
Seeing Yura speak like her usual self, I was relieved to see that while she was tired, she wasn't mentally pushed to the brink.
"..."
After hugging the two of them sufficiently, I stood up and locked eyes with Eunha, who was staring at me intently from behind.
As I approached her with a grin, Eunha blushed and held out her arms for a hug before I could even reach her. Naturally, I pulled her close and lightly pressed my lips to hers.
"You worked hard too, Eunha."
"Yes..."
I held the softly responding Eunha a little longer, but perhaps she wanted to feel my warmth more, because she didn't let go.
"Eunha?"
"Yes?"
"...Shall we go for a walk?"
Thinking it would be nice to spend some time just the two of us, I suggested a walk. The outside world was noisy because of the Superhuman situation, but since the sun had already set, going for a walk together shouldn't be a problem.
"Yes! I'd love to."
Eunha agreed to go without a moment's hesitation.
"Then I'll just have a quick call with Yubin and Hayoung."
"Okay. I'll be waiting."
Yura and Su-ah heard me say I was going out with Eunha, but since they don't interfere with each other's private time with me, they didn't ask to come along.
Entering the room, I called Hayoung first and then Yubin before getting ready to leave. Both of them had gone straight home after work. Just like the three who were here, I could hear the fatigue in their voices, so I didn't keep the calls long.
"Yeah, honey. How are you? Aren't you really tired?"
「I am tired, but I feel a bit better after hearing your voice.」
Though she sounded exhausted, Hayoung spoke in her usual gentle voice so I wouldn't worry.
「Can I go to Yellow's house tomorrow?」
"Yeah. I'll be waiting."
「Okay, honey. I love you.」
"I love you too."
After a conversation that naturally brought a smile to my face, I called Yubin. Yubin's voice betrayed her fatigue even more blatantly. As the leader, she likely had to deal with more people than the other members.
「I missed you the moment I got home, Oppa.」
"You can come over. You can even sleep over."
「Okay. I'll think about it.」
After checking in on the two of them, I stepped out of the room to find Eunha standing there in her long padded coat, holding my jacket for me.
"Were you waiting?"
"No. Was the call okay?"
"Yeah. They both seemed really tired, so I didn't keep them long."
I took the jacket from Eunha and put it on, then looked at Su-ah and Yura, who were still on the sofa.
"We'll be back in a bit."
"Okay. Have a good one."
Leaving the two of them behind as they waved without looking up, I stepped out into the hallway and took Eunha's hand in front of the elevator.
"You're not too tired?"
"I'm fine. We haven't had much time together lately, so I really wanted to go out with you."
"I'm glad, then."
Even though Yura and Eunha had moved into Su-ah's place, we hadn't had the luxury of actually feeling like we were living together yet.
Around the time they moved in, I was busy making the hacking tool, and now my girlfriends were swamped.
On one hand, I felt bad that we couldn't spend time together, and I hoped this busy period would pass quickly.
Perhaps because it was our first outing alone in a while, even if it wouldn't be for long, a smile was spread across Eunha's face.
Since it was already late, I felt at ease knowing we could walk with some peace and quiet. Feeling the texture and warmth of Eunha's hand gripped tightly in mine, we headed out to the park for a stroll.